Sanchez pushes for new hearing on hiring case

November 24, 2009

Al Sanchez, Mayor Richard Daley's former streets and sanitation commissioner, alleges in a new court filing that a Chicago police sergeant may have tried to obstruct Sanchez's efforts to overturn his federal conviction on charges he rigged City Hall hiring.

Sanchez has asked the judge in his case to take the unusual step of reopening a hearing that had previously explored the conduct of law enforcement officials.

The former Daley aide has been trying to get a new trial since his March conviction, arguing in part that law enforcement failed to disclose that one of the government witnesses against him was a gang member. At an October hearing, Sanchez's lawyers successfully showed that FBI agents failed to realize the government witness was an alleged drug dealer and a leader in the Spanish Vice Lords street gang.